2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Sarahspangles

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Raw fleece used to be knitted into oversized hats to make them virtually weatherproof as it sheds the water. They are called 'thrums' and the great Sally Pointer makes and sells them but also sells a pattern for knitting your own... 

I've used thrums the other way round, knitting a twist of raw fleece collected from the hills into the wrists of mittens so that there's a fleecey cosy draught-stopping inner lining. And I used kapok knitted into the inside of the soles of some thick house-socks for my niece, so her feet were in a thick squishy cosy layer  

It’s a lovely word, Alan Garner’s latest collection is called Powsels and Thrums.

dND

Hi all, I had to go AWOL again but hopefully things are going to be a bit more settled now that the internal building work is just about finished.

It was 2 months ago I last updated my coupons, so a spend to declare and a make to declare also.  I made the second pair of socks which I love. I put them into one of the laundry nets so that I could wash them on the wool wash cycle but totally forgot they were there and included them in the general wash.  While this wash is a cold water wash, it’s over 2 hours of churning so I now have a pair of slightly felted socks but they are still serviceable.  I also discovered another couple of balls of a different colourway, orange/red, lurking at the bottom of my stash -I’m going to try your pattern with that Pip.

Socks before washing/felting! 🤣

Encouraged by the success of the socks I’ve started on a cardigan.  Unfortunately I didn’t find a colourway I wanted, (or even sufficient quantity), of the Anika in L1dl, so I headed off to W00l W’hse and got 10 balls of Drops Fabel, Shoreline, along with 6 balls of Drops Fabel, Grey Blue.  The Shoreline I’m making into a cardigan while the Grey Blue is for a slipover.  So far I’ve done both sleeves and just finishing the second front of the cardigan.  I started on the smallest piece first so if I had to unpick due to not understanding the pattern, it would be less to do. 😁

That, if I’m right, is a total of 16 tokens bringing my total to 62.  Hopefully that’s all I need to buy this year. I did have a purchase of a pair of jogging bottoms from the charity shop as I needed something to wear when gardening.

I should be able to unpack the sewing machines etc,. so I can start trying to make some of my own clothes too. 😁

Also, I second @Cherryfudge comment about the depth and variety of knowledge on this thread - lots of rabbit holes to delve down! 🤣

Nelliegrace

It is chilly today, -3°C first thing with more snow. I have my woolly hat and a wool chair throw for a shawl, warm pyjamas and bedsocks, a hot water bottle, and a flask of tea. There is no rush to get up. I have a stock of fingerless gloves made from the top part of old socks. A bit of crochet over the cut edge and to divide the thumb and hand part.



DH collected my free, reserved books from the library yesterday.

alicef

@dND ouch, ouch on the felted socks.  My first pair are on 2.5mm circulars, so I now know that a pair of socks is not in any way a small amount of effort to knit. 

Could you soak them with a little baby shampoo and re-block?  I have just discovered sock blockers, (which haven't been a presence in my life til now, due to the absence of sock knitting). 

I have another 2 coupons to declare.  Wool, (again).  I shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a yarn shop.

Laura_Elsewhere

I've spent another 5 coupons, in Marks and Sparks, buying a gents' fine-wool crew-neck machine-washable jumper to wear as a base-layer underneath other clothing. 

I managed to get 'afterdrop' on Friday... I swam the usual length of time, the water was only half a degree lower.... but crucially, I got out into 2ºC air with a bitter wind blowing and very wet splashy sleet hammering down... and luckily my companions spotted the warning signs ("Are you ok? Your lips have gone blue...") and bundled me into a car and got me straight home and all was well by mid-afternoon! 'Afterdrop' is when your core temp continues to drop after you get out of the water, and basically it's early/mild hypothermia.... so it was deeply unpleasant but no lasting problems! 

And a new thin pure-wool layer to wear against my skin... 

And the previous weekend I bought the wool-silk fabric. I need to update my signature! 

Cherryfudge

Crumbs, @Laura_Elsewhere, I'm glad you (wisely) swim with friends. One of my sons got hypothermic when out for a run a few years ago and tried to ring us for help but we missed the call. Thankfully he got back to his car and turned the heat up, but it took a while to get back to normal. It's too easy to get into that situation, I dread to think how many people haven't had heating on because of the cost.

I wonder why it affected you not the others?

Laura_Elsewhere

@Cherryfudge - ironically, I'm renowned for "not feeling the cold"... which is not quite right, I am aware of the cold but I go into the water slowly but steadily, same as I do year-round, where most people in the colder months spend ages squealing and shrieking and swearing or run in making a huge splash... 
I was tired, as we'd had an outing the night before, and tiredness is known to be a factor, and I was a bit anxious as we've a total of four nights out in five days (I put my foot down and refused to go to the 5th one insisting on a day off in the middle!), so that might have been factors... it always affects everyone differently, and affects one person differently on different days, so it's a useful reminder to us all to monitor ourselves! I felt absolutely fine and was surprised when they asked if I was ok... 

When I got home and got into bed, my torso and limbs were all purple-blotchy- I haven't seen my skin do that since I was 12-14 and forced to spend 80 minutes standing still in horizontal sleet on an exposed Scottish hilltop.... every9one else ran round playijng hockey to keep warm but the teachers insisted on taking my glasses off (in case they got broken and someone was cut) and I can't move without them so all I could do was stand still with a hockey match happening around and occasionally over the top of me, virtually blind and absolutely freezing. (Eventually I developed a bit of a 'thing' about PE, can't imagine why...). 
I think it was about five hours before my skin stopped being cold, so I was lucky not to have had worse. 

Nonnadiluca

Several years ago when DH was doing triathlons, he did a half ironman at Weymouth. Although it was summer it was cold and very wet and after a 1,2 mile sea swim and a 56 mile cycle he was so cold that he couldn't get his feet out of his cycling shoes. He had done this distance a few times before, including in the Welsh mountains, with no problems,and would have continued if he had been able to move! I got him dry and into all of his clothes, sat him in the cafe with my coat draped over him, and plied him with hot chocolate and it was quite a while before he was okay. Didn't stop him competing though! Glad you're ok now Laura.

Cherryfudge

@Laura_Elsewhere, that hockey experience sounds horrific. No wonder you went off PE! So glad you have recovered from this latest episode and are warm again. I suppose body temperature often drops when people get tired - that's when I am mostly likely to feel the cold.

Cherryfudge

@Nonnadiluca, your husband's experience shows we can all be vulnerable, doesn't it! Even in summer in Dorset! Again, it's good you were with him and able to help.